"London. And I can"t."
"Why not?" After all, London was not such a bad idea. He had thought of it before now himself.
"Well--I don"t know whether I told you that I"m not on very good terms with my husband"s people. They haven"t been at all nice to me since poor Frank"s death."
"Poor Elise--"
"They live in London and they want to keep me out of it. My father-in-law gives me a small allowance on condition I don"t live there. They hate me," she said, smiling, "as much as all that."
"Is it a large allowance?"
"No. It"s a very small one. But they know I can"t get on without it."
"You ought not to be dependent on such people.... Perhaps in a flat--or one of those little houses in St. John"s Wood--"
"It would be too heavenly. But what"s the good of talking about it?"
"You must know what I want to do for you, Elise. I want to make you happy, to put you safe above all these wretched worries, to take care of you, dear. You _will_ let me, won"t you?"
"My dear Mr. Waddington--my dear friend--" The dark eyes brightened.
She saw a clear prospect of the five hundred. Compared with what old Waddy was proposing, such a sum, and a mere loan too, represented moderation. The moment had come, very happily, for reopening this question. "I can"t let you do anything so--so extensive. Really and truly, all I want is just a temporary loan. If you really could lend me that five hundred. You said--"
"I didn"t say I would. And I didn"t say I wouldn"t. I said it would depend."
"I know. But you never said on what. If the securities I offered you aren"t good enough, there"s the legacy."
He was silent. He knew now that his condition had had nothing to do with the securities. He must know, he would know, where he stood.
"My aunt," said Elise gently, "is very old."
"I wouldn"t dream of touching your poor little legacy." He said it with pa.s.sion. "Won"t you drop all this sordid talk about business and trust me?"
"I do trust you."
The little white hand left off stroking the dark fur and reached out to him. He took it and held it tight. It struggled to withdraw itself.
"You aren"t afraid of me?" he said.
"No, but I"m afraid of Partridge coming in and seeing us. He might think it rather odd."
"He won"t come in. It doesn"t matter what Partridge thinks."
"Oh, _doesn"t_ it!"
"He won"t come in."
He drew a little closer to her.
"He will. He _will_. He"ll come and clear away the things. I hear him coming."
He got up and went to the door of the smoke-room, to the further door, and looked out.
"There"s no one there," he said. "They don"t come "till six and it isn"t five yet.... Elise--abstract your mind one moment from Partridge. If I get that little house in London, will you live in it?"
"I can"t let you. You make me ashamed, after all you"ve done for me.
It"s too much."
"It isn"t. If I take it, will you let me come and see you?"
"Oh, yes. But--" She shrank, so far as Elise could be said to shrink, a little further back into her corner.
"It"s rather far from Wyck," he said. "Still, I could run up once in"--he became pensive--"in three weeks or so."
"For the day--I should be delighted."
"No. _Not_ for the day." He was irritated with this artificial obtuseness. "For the week-end. For the week, sometimes, when I can manage it. I shall say it"s business."
She drew back and back, as if from his advance, her head tilted, her eyes glinting at him under lowered lids, taking it all in yet pretending a paralysis of ignorance. She wanted to see--to see how far he would go, before she--She wanted him to think she didn"t understand him even now.
It was this half-fascinated, backward gesture that excited him. He drew himself close, close.
"Elise, it"s no use pretending. You know what I mean. You know I want you."
He stooped over her, covering her with his great chest. He put his arms round her.
"In my arms. You _know_ you want _me_--"
She felt his mouth pushed out to her mouth as it retreated, trying to cover it, to press down. She gave a cry: "Oh--oh, you--" and struggled, beating him off with one hand while the other fumbled madly for her pocket-handkerchief. His grip slackened. He rose to his feet. But he still stooped over her, penning her in with his outstretched arms, his weight propped by his hands laid on the back of the sofa.
"You--old--imbecile--" she spurted.
She could afford it. In one rapid flash of intelligence she had seen that, whatever happened, she could never get that five hundred pounds _down_. And to surrender to old Waddy without it, to surrender to old Waddy at all, when she could marry Freddy Markham, would be too preposterous. Even if there hadn"t been any Freddy Markham, it would have been preposterous.
At that moment as she said it, while he still held her prisoned and they stared into each other"s faces, she spurting and he panting, Barbara came in.
He started; jerked himself upright. Mrs. Levitt recovered herself.
"You silly cuckoo," she said. "You don"t know how ridiculous you look."
She had found her pocket-handkerchief and was dabbing her eyes and mouth with it, rubbing off the uncleanness of his impact. "How ridic--Te-hee--Te-hee--te-hee!" She shook with laughter.
Barbara pretended not to see them. To have gone back at once, closing the door on them, would have been to admit that she had seen them.
Instead she moved, quickly yet abstractedly, to the writing-table, took up the photographs and went out again.
Mr. Waddington had turned away and stood leaning against the chimneypiece, hiding his head ("Poor old ostrich!") in his hands. His att.i.tude expressed a dignified sorrow and a wronged integrity. Barbara stood for a collected instant at the door and spoke:
"I"m sorry I forgot the photographs." As if she said: "Cheer up, old thing. I didn"t really see you."
Through the closed door she heard Mrs. Levitt"s laughter let loose, malignant, shrill, hysterical, a horrid sound.